Tallinn, Estonia, 2011-04-12 15:05 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In the first quarter the greatest proportion of the turnover of the company was traditionally generated from the fish and fish products business segment, formulating altogether 44.7% of the turnover and the second position was assumed by the frozen goods, which generated 29.5% of the turnover. Business segments wise the third position is held by ice cream, which generated 24.2% of the turnover of the first quarter.
|
Proportions of business segments in the turnover |
Q1 2011 | Q1 2010 |
| Fish and fish products | 44.7% | 51.7% |
| Frozen goods | 29.5% | 33.5% |
| Ice cream | 24.1% | 12.7% |
| Other | 1.7% | 3.0% |
The greatest input to the turnover growth in the first quarter came from ice cream business segment, which grew over two times if compared to the same period last year, i.e. 110.4%. At the same time, fish and fish products business segment and frozen goods segment continue with turnovers comparable to the first quarter of 2010.
| Business segment turnover (M EUR) | Q1 2011 | Q1 2010 | Change (%) |
| Ice cream | 4,0 | 1,9 | 110,4% |
| Frozen goods | 4,9 | 5,0 | -2,2% |
| Fish and fish products | 7,4 | 7,8 | -4,1% |
| Other | 0,3 | 0,3 | -5,5% |
| Total | 16,6 | 15,0 | 11,1% |
There are two main reasons for the remarkable growth of the ice cream business segment. Firstly, as of the first quarter 2011 the turnover of ice cream includes the turnover of Khladokombinat No. 1 in St. Petersburg, which was not consolidated into the turnover of the first quarter of 2010 due to the fact that the company was not yet owned by Premia Foods. Secondly, the company managed to outperform the set targets in all the Baltic markets and by virtue of strong product portfolios achieve great results in the ice cream business segment despite to the low season. The growth of the ice cream business segment in the Baltics, excluding Khladokombinat No. 1, was 12%.
The frozen goods business segment did surprisingly well as the turnover was in the same level as in the first quarter of 2010 and the fall-behind experienced in the previous year has stopped. This indicated clearly that the reorganisations in the product portfolios conducted during the financial crisis and the new more forcible approach in the Lithuanian market has resulted in success and enabled to keep up the sales volumes.
Also the turnover generated in the fish and fish products business segment exceeded the set expectations. The mere 4% difference compared to the results of the same period of 2010 is above all remarkable due to the fact that the material part of the turnover seasonality related to Easter fell into the first quarter in 2010; however, in 2011 the holiday having positive impact on the fish consumption will be only in the second quarter. The turnover achieved in the first quarter 2011, which is almost equal to the result of the same period of 2010 is above all reflecting the great efforts made by the sales team and the positive impact gained from the development of the product portfolio conducted in the Finnish and Estonian markets. In addition to that, the sales of the chilled packed fish products in Latvia and Lithuania have also increased.
From altogether five geographical target markets of Premia Foods, the greatest proportion in the turnover in the first quarter of 2011 was generated from the Finnish market, input of which was 38% of the total turnover. Finnish market was followed by Estonian, Latvian and Russian markets and the fifth position was held by Lithuania.
|
Turnover of geographical
markets (M EUR) |
Q1 2011 | Q1 2010 | Change (%) |
| Finland | 6,3 | 7,0 | -9,4% |
| Estonia | 4,7 | 4,3 | 8,7% |
| Latvia | 2,3 | 2,3 | -0,9% |
| Lithuania | 1,4 | 1,3 | 9,1% |
| Russia | 1,9 | 0 | NA |
| Total | 16,6 | 15,0 | 11,1% |
The growth in turnover in the first quarter came from the Baltics and Russia.
The Baltic markets are the main target markets of ice cream and frozen goods, but in also fish and fish products are sold in these countries, in lesser volume though. The results of the first quarter, which have resulted in turnover growth of approximately 9% in Estonia and Lithuania should be considered success but also the result comparable to the same period of 2010 achieved in Latvia is of the opinion of the management a good outcome.
Finland is the main target market of fish and fish products for Premia Foods and as mentioned above, the result of the first quarter of 2010 has been materially influenced by the fact of the Easter falling into the end of the quarter. Due to the same, the sales volumes went materially up during the referred period and the year’s result falling behind only by 700,000 euro indicates that the sales activities in Finland have been a success and the positions in the market has been maintained.
In Russian product portfolio the first quarter has mainly been represented by ice cream, the proportion of frozen goods is still unremarkable. The achieved turnover of 1.9 million euro is in compliance with the management’s expectations and the low season occurred due to weather conditions. The Russian ice cream market, which is similar to Lithuanian market, can be characterised by remarkable dependence on the weather conditions due to which the ice cream consumption per capita may differ up to 8 times average during winter and summer periods.
Additional information:
Kuldar Leis
Premia Foods
Chairman of Management Board
T: 6 033 800
kuldar.leis@premia.ee
www.premiafoods.eu